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by Sharon Grimes, WAMM
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WAMM and WAMM Director are Big Winners!
Director Mary Beaudoin and WAMM received a Resisting Illegal Authority award February 28 for individual and collective work toward peace. Awards were presented by a witness at the trial of the Minnesota 8 “to individuals or organizations who continue to represent that witness.” The ceremony was part of the Peace and War in the Heartland project, initiated by Frank Kroncke, one of the Minnesota 8, to revive student interest in opposing war. www.pwh-mn.org
Polly Mann Wins Award
WAMM founder Polly Mann received one of 10 Dreamers and Doers awards from the Minnesota Women’s Consortium at its Celebration 28 in January. The awards recognized the accomplishments of Minnesota women working for equality for women and girls. Mann received a standing ovation.
War Supporter Ousted
In what many say is a rejection of the war, a Democrat in Illinois won the congressional seat held for 20 years by Dennis Hastert, an Iraq war supporter. Bill Foster got 53 percent of the vote against Republican Jim Oberweis (47 percent) in a special election March 8 in the traditionally Republican district. (The Crypt, 3/8/08)
Credit where Credit’s Due
When announcing that Barack Obama won the Minnesota precinct caucuses, Katie Couric of CBS news turned to commentator Bob Schieffer for political analysis and he said, “that’s understandable because Minnesota’s has a strong peace movement.” (CBS, 2/5/08)
Berkeley City Council Stands Firm
The Berkeley City Council agreed on February 13 to shut down the local Marine Recruiting Center at the urging of Code Pink and other peace activists. They held firm despite thousands of hate e-mail, threats to cut off state and federal funds, and demonstrations by pro-war groups such as Move America Forward, claiming the council was against the troops. “This struggle is not about the Marines as individuals, Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink, “It’s about the occupation of Iraq. It’s about recruiting our youth to be those occupying forces in Iraq. It’s about the 1.2 million dead Iraqis, the 3,950 dead U.S. soldiers, the trillions of dollars of our taxpayer money,” (Code Pink, 2/14/08)
Blogging for Mideast Peace
Peace Man, a Palestinian, and Hope Man, an Israeli, started a blog in January called “Life Must Go on in Gaza and Sderot” (http://gaza-sderot.blogspot.com/) as a way to fend off despair and because they wanted “to show that there are other types of relationships between Palestinians in Gaza and Israelis in Sderot, not only rockets and violence,” said the Sderot blogger. “Even though things are really awful, it’s to show there can be a true connection.” The men are careful to protect their identities for fear of being seen as disloyal. They met two years ago through an Israeli-Arab dialogue group sponsored by the Center for Emerging Future (CEF) in Boise, Idaho, and haven’t seen each other in about a year. CEF’s Israeli coordinator said the group encourages Israelis and Palestinians to set up joint peace ventures. (Yahoo! News, 3/6/08)
Chad – Sudan Peace Agreement
A peace agreement was signed by the presidents of Chad and Sudan on March 13. The agreement, witnessed by UN secretary general Ban-Ki Moon and the president of Senegal, is meant to stop cross-border attacks by rebels in the region that includes Darfur. The countries agreed to the formation of a contact group of representatives from several African countries that will meet monthly to ensure the agreement is carried out in good faith. (New York Times, 3/14/08)
School Board Restricts Recruiters
The Minneapolis School Board voted unanimously February 26 to restrict military recruiters to school career centers and to give equal access to counter-recruitment groups whenever the military comes into schools. YAWR (Youth Against War and Racism) has been working to require military recruiters to follow the same guidelines as other career and educational recruiters.
Longest Walk
Participants on the Longest Walk set off on a five-month walk from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11. The goals are to call attention at a national level to the “environmental disharmony of Mother Earth” and sacred site issues and to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original longest walk. They will go through 11 states on north and south routes carrying the message “All Life is Sacred, Save Mother Earth.” AIM co-founder Dennis Banks is leading the south route and should arrive in Washington July 11. http://longestwalk.org. |
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© 2008 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete April 2008 Index - click here
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